Building a secure city

Abstract

There is a set of relationships between crime governance and segregation in big cities. As an excuse to justify security and reduce crime, several techniques have been used to build cities where certain populations receive the benefits, while others bear the weight of the control techniques implemented. In this paper, we analyze how Colombian security policies have led to the emergence of a particular device of urban segregation rationalized through the justification of security. This device has been made possible by controversial discourses and practices implemented in Bogotá for governing public space and crime during the last three decades, that not only favor the preservation of traditional forms of spatial segregation, but also allow new ways of managing and perpetuating urban exclusion.

Keywords:

• segregation
• crime
• security
• social control
• public space

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Prof. Mariana Valverde for reading an early version of this paper. Also, we would like to thank the reviewers and editors of City whose insightful comments were decisive for improving our analysis.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Fragment of the speech ‘Military strategy and civil society’ delivered in 1964. Available in Spanish: https://cutt.ly/Ar4UIRr

2 Fragment of a speech delivered in May 23, 2018. Available in Spanish: https://cutt.ly/1P6aK4d

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) received a grant from Universidad Autónoma Latinoamericana (Colombia) in support of the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article [grant number 34-000013].

Notes on contributors

Fernando Tamayo

Fernando Tamayo is Professor in the Postgraduate Studies Department at Universidad Autónoma Latinoamericana, Medellín, Colombia. Email: [email protected]

Libardo Ariza

Libardo Ariza is Professor in the Law Department of Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia. Email: [email protected]